You want to know the real deal? Effexor sucks my ass! Yeah, that loverly lil’ anti depressant that I had a brief love affair with is just water under the bridge now! It did it’s duty for a short period of time, but then I noticed that I actually seemed to be more irritable, highly emotional and a tad bit “down”.

So I figured, why take a medication that doesn’t do shit? I guess I could have upped the ol’ dose but that’s just not me. The 10 pounds that had found it’s way on my 5′ 9″ body wasn’t exactly welcome and the lack of sex drive… well, it just sucked! I had no trouble finishing the deal. You know having the big kahuna. But what I had issues with was actually getting on the board if you know what I mean?

What does a nurse who has a degree in psychology and every resource at her fingertips do? Does she seek medical advice and ween herself off of that ugly little pill? Hell no, I quit cold turkey. How stupid could I have been? OMG, it was God awful. I mean it sucked the big one.

I threw up for a week, didn’t sleep, couldn’t see straight, had a headache that was so damn bad I thought I was going crazy, had no happy thoughts, cried for a week, yelled like a crazy women and scariest of all… had thoughts of harming myself.

This was seriously one of the hardest things I have had to whether and if you have been around for a while, you know that I have been through some serious crap! But I prevailed and my poor kids and hubby helped me through this horrendous time. The Big Guy suffered, believe me! He didn’t know whether to hug me, tell me he loved me, smack me on the ass, kick my butt or just cry right along with me.

Oh boy, it sucked the big one for sure. But it has been about 3 weeks and the “brain zaps” have stopped. Yeah, brain zaps. That would be one of the most common side effects of coming of Effexor. You feel like you are having long electrical surges in your head, and it makes you feel half crazy. Is it real or am I just dreaming them up? Nope, they are for real, at least that is what I have decided.

Bottom line, I am free of that crap! Yee ha. Not to say that I am not dealing with some anxiety, and slight emotional responses to the radio in the car, commercials and kids hugging me. Boy am I a sap right now, but at least I am feeling my “real” emotions and the best part of all… I want sex 24 hours a day, hahahaha.

No seriously though, it was nasty stuff to come off of and I really think that clinicians should let patients know the complications associated with this drug and the effects that it can have on you if and when you decide to leave it behind! Because that was some hard work, and scary. I hate to see how people that are on mid or high doses of the drug and deal with clinical depression, not just anxiety and mild depression, handle the change. That is why Effexor is known for causing teenagers to commit suicide. Because you feel as if you are going nuts and it would be easier to just keep popping the pills.

To be totally honest, I am back on the Wellbutrin though. I will stick with this for a while. I took Wellbutrin before Effexor and I had no issues when I chose to come off of it. So I know that when my life settles down, and I am able to deal a bit better, if I want to stop the med I can do so with small complications in my everyday life.

So my advice, be aware of what you are prescribed and really research the medicine. Being a healthcare professional, I am a bit embarrassed that I didn’t realize what I was getting in to, but oh well. Live and learn, right?

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 4th, 2007 at 10:08 pm and is filed under Opinions and Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.